Maranda Russell's Blog, page 30

2019 Yule Altar (So Far)

I was excited as soon as Thanksgiving was over to put up my Yule altar. I’m not sure if this is the finished version for the season or not, but I liked the way it looked so far and thought I would share a pic:

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My favorite touches this year are the red Reindeer candle holder (from Walmart), and the glittery green pinecone. The silver glittery tree candle holder and the altar cloth are also new (I found both at Goodwill). The little cinnamon broom, jingle bells, and white star are from last year. I also sprinkled an assortment of seasonally colored tiny gemstones and several small healing wands on the table as well.

By the way, for this photo, I loved the way the candles reflected in the darkened window frame, so had to include that in the background!

Freaky Friday – My Mysterious Moving Cat Statue

Are you interested in hearing a weird personal story? Ok, so for over a year now I’ve had this praying black cat statue on my living room coffee table:

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I picked him up at Michael’s last Halloween. Anyway, I normally have him facing front as pictured, looking to the left (from his perspective). But, multiple times I keep finding him moved about 90 degrees to the right, directly facing my little pagan altar. I just find this so weird, especially since he is a praying statue and he keeps moving to face my little altar.

I know I have never moved him to face that way and my husband swears he has never done so either. The only other possibility would be one of our cats knocking into him, but I never really see any of our 3 cats up on that table, and even if they did get up there, what are the odds they would keep moving him exactly the same amount, in the same direction?

The statue is solid and fairly heavy, so the cats would really have to knock into him to move him too, and if they did that, they would probably knock him over, or off the table, since he is close to the edge on the front and side of the table.

I can’t explain it, but I thought it was kind of weird and interesting. Any thoughts?

Poetry – Sylvia Plath Reincarnated

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I fear I may be

the unfortunate reincarnation

of Sylvia Plath.

Born fifty years to the day

from her initial entrance,

I draw the parallels

between our lives –

lines that connect

far more than astrology.

Both of us poets,

wordsmiths

living through our literary confessions.

Desperate to be taken seriously –

a gift freely granted

to the masculine,

but almost impossible to achieve

with a soft voice and gentle hands.

Both with daddy complexes

due to the abandonment

of an early death,

we seek that missing link

in other men

(some more worthwhile

than others).

Our final connection results

in a morbidly strengthened bond –

a certain disregard

for our own lives.

We dream of being free

from this earthly game,

but lack the forbearance

for a lengthy battle.

Instead, we choose to dream of release –

and in our darker moments,

even plan it.

7 Chakras Art Series

A little while back, I decided to do a series of ACEO artist trading cards based upon the 7 chakras spiritual system. I wanted them all to be abstracts, with the colors for each chakra taking center stage. Here is the end result:

[image error]Root Chakra – Red
[image error]Naval Chakra – Orange
[image error]Solar Plexus Chakra – Yellow
[image error]Heart Chakra – Green
[image error]Throat Chakra – Blue
[image error]Third Eye Chakra – Indigo
[image error]Crown Chakra – Violet

Which are your favorites? Mine are probably the heart, throat, and solar plexus ones. Some are still available for sale on my Ebay store, so check it out if you are interested!

Yule Colors This Year

For Yule/Christmas this year, I’ve decided to do a black, white, and red color scheme. Here is the first bit of decorating I’ve done:

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I’ve always wanted a black Christmas tree, so I bought a two foot one, and then decorated it with white lights, red tinsel/star, and bulbs/ornaments in all three colors. Now I need to find some other things that match to display around it!

Poetry – The Wishing Garden

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It was as much

as she could do

to believe such

nonsense,

but she went on

to look through

the garden gate

with one eye open,

keeping the other

tightly closed –

wishing for a vision,

praying for a dream.

Another Art Contest Opportunity – My Entries

In the past couple months I have actually entered art into 3 different art contests/exhibitions. I already shared the art I submitted to the contest I placed in last year, but thought I would share a few artworks I submitted for a brand new contest. This contest will be choosing a variety of artworks that will be exhibited in New York and Oregon, and will be used to produce derivative products based on the selected art. If my art is chosen, I will get a 25% royalty on all products sold with my design, plus whatever the art sells for at exhibit.

I tried to pick a variety of my recent artwork to submit. I decided to go with this cute wolf portrait:

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A nice abstract design:

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And something a little inspirational and personal:

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I hope they pick at least one of my pieces for their exhibits!

Reborn Babies Ready for Thanksgiving!

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Candle Magic Painting Class

Last night I went to a candle magic painting class. It was a lot of fun, but harder than it looks! The “magic” part of it is that we used some runes/esoteric symbols for inspiration. Here is how my rune/symbolic candle turned out:

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I took some liberty with the symbols and even created a couple of my own. I wanted my candle to have a bit of an Egyptian feel, which I think the black scythe and the black and gold detail does give a bit of that impression.

We also painted a tealight candle, and while mine started out as a symbol for Hades, the candle was NOT easy to paint on and it kind of turned into an abstract expressionistic painting, but I still like it:

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It looks a little like a tormented soul in Hades to me, so that works I suppose

 

Poetry – Pledge of Allegiance (Hades)

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I pledge allegiance

to the underworld

of our darkest King, Hades,

and his beautiful,

Queen of duality, Persephone.

And to the lost souls

upon the shores of the Styx,

one hellscape,

under the earth,

brought together

with eternity

and somber humility

for all.

(I have to give props to Green Day’s song “Minority” for giving me the first two lines of this poem and the idea to run with it!)